Text and pagination are drawn from: The Miscellaneous Works of Edward
Gibbon Esq. With Memoirs of his Life and Writings, composed by Himself,
illustrated from his Letters, with Occasional Narrative, by the Right
Honourable John, Lord Sheffield.A New Edition with considerable
Additions, in Five volumes, London, printed for John Murray, 1814,
5 vols, vol. IV, pp. 1-93.

In the «Advertisement to the First Edition» Sheffield underlines that
his edition of the text of the Essai has been made «with corrections
and additions from an interleaved copy which my Friend gave me several
years ago» (vol. I, p. xix, above mentioned edition). For the footnotes
 all by Gibbon (Sheffield marks his own notes by an (S)) 
we have decided, for convenience purpose, to transform the original footnotes
in endnotes and all the different symbols used in Sheffield's edition
in progressive arabic numerals in parentheses. From these latter must
be distinguished numerals in brackets and in bold characters, which indicate
original pagination. Citations in the endnotes are in the abbreviated
forms used by Gibbon. The text is introduced by editorial materials on
the Essai inserted by Sheffield at the opening of vol. IV of theMiscellaneous
Works.

We have corrected according to modern usage some occasional misprints.
Only misspellings and French accents have been always reproduced according
to the text of Sheffield edition. Greek words have been translittered.
Each paragraph, marked at its beginning by a Roman numeral, is preceded
by the short title (in brackets) put in the margin of the page in Sheffield
edition.

For Gibbon's own account of the birth of this writing of his, its purpose
and value, see our abstract from Autobiography of Edward Gibbon as originally
edited by Lord Sheffield, with an Introduction by J. B. Bury (Oxford
, s. d.), pp. 95-101.